May 7, 2012

State officials to attend today's sewage hearing

By SCOTT WRIGHT

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CENTRE — Several officials from the Alabama Department of Public Health (DPH) are expected to attend an announced public meeting at the ROC today to discuss Cherokee County's new sewage ordinance.

Area Director Jim Hollins and Greg Locklier, assistant general council at the DPH and author of the ordinance, are expected be on-hand at 10 a.m. today to answer questions from county residents about exactly what the new law means for properties inside the Alabama Power flood easement.

On Friday, The Post spoke with Locklier and Hollins during an advance visit to Cherokee County. We asked what they expect to take place at today's meeting. (The Post will have complete coverage of the meeting in next week's issue.)

Locklier said the meeting is standard procedure whenever new administrative rules are passed.

“The purpose of the hearing is simply to receive comments and hear concerns from the public,” Locklier said. “We'll have another lawyer from the Department of Public Health to be there to move things along.”

Locklier said he will be at the meeting, mainly to give an overview of the rules in the new ordinance. Those rules include implementation of a first-of-its-kind variance to allow permitted holding tanks at recreation lots in the easement around Weiss Lake.

“We'll have a sign-in sheet and we'll open up the floor for comments afterwards,” Locklier said. “We'll have a time limit, but it won't be very strict because we want to give everyone a chance to be heard.”

Locklier said the back-and-forth information swap with the public is vital to the process of writing new rules.

“If, for some reason, there are any concerns we haven't considered, this is a chance for us to review them” before implementing the new rules, Locklier said. “If there are no changes, the rule will be adopted within a week or two and then it will be published and go into effect on July 9.”

Hollins admitted he won't be surprised if someone asks about one requirement, which stipulates that residents must hook onto any new sewage system that becomes available in the future.

“There are new laws in place now that any company like that will have to comply with,” Hollins said, anticipating the follow-up question.

A private company built several "decentralized" systems in Cherokee County in years past. One, near the Alabama Belle resort, failed repeatedly and the company was eventually fined $1,000 by the state for not making the necessary repairs. Several months later, the company and its owners were named in a lawsuit over a residential project. The lawsuit is ongoing.

“Anyone who comes into the county now to set up a system like that will have to get permits from ADEM and a certification from the Public Service Commission,” Locklier said. “The difference is, the system that was installed [at the Alabama Belle] several years ago didn't have to comply with all the laws that are now in effect.”